FAS appeals: how we can help

Factsheet
Appeals against a decision made by the
Financial Assistance Scheme
If you’re not satisfied with a decision made by the Financial Assistance Scheme
(FAS) you can get help to sort it out.
First you need to give them a chance to put things right. But if you’ve done that, and
aren’t satisfied with the outcome, you can ask us to look into it.
We are an independent organisation set up by law to investigate pension matters.
We look at the facts, without taking sides. And we have legal powers to make
decisions that are final, binding and enforceable in court. Our service is free.
This factsheet has information on our role and what we do. It includes details of:

How we can help

What you need to do

What we will do
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Other organisations that can help

Feedback and complaints about us
How we can help
We can look at decisions made by the FAS Scheme Manager. These are known as appeals of
FAS decisions.
Before you can ask us to look into it you must ask the FAS to review their decision. If you need
help to do this you can contact The Pensions Advisory Service. If you’ve asked the FAS to
review their decision and aren’t satisfied with the outcome you can ask us to investigate.
You can ask us to look at a problem if:
You have received a copy of a decision made by the FAS Scheme Manager and you are not
satisfied with the outcome. We can accept applications from anyone who has had a decision
made by the FAS Scheme Manager.
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What we can look at
We can look at FAS decisions about a pension scheme or about something that affects an
individual member of a scheme.
FAS decisions about pension schemes
Generally we can look at:
 scheme notification decisions – whether or not the relevant pension scheme details have
been provided to the FAS within the required timescale.
 scheme eligibility decisions – whether or not a pension scheme is a qualifying pension
scheme under the FAS.
FAS decisions about individuals
Generally we can look at:
 individual eligibility – whether or not someone is a qualifying member under the FAS
 individual assessment – payments someone is, or might be, entitled to receive under the
FAS.
We can’t look at general complaints about the FAS – for example delays in making a decision.
These are dealt with by the Parliamentary Ombudsman (see page 4 for contact details).
What you need to do
You must bring your appeal to us no more than 2 months after the FAS Scheme Manager has
sent a decision about your appeal.
Bringing your appeal to us
You’ll need to send us an application form along with any documents related to your appeal.
By law we may not be able to accept your appeal unless you:
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provide all the relevant information asked for on the application form
include a copy of the FAS final decision about your appeal
include any other documents relevant to your application.
You can appoint someone (a representative) to help you with your application.
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What we will do
First we’ll decide whether or not your application is something we can deal with (see pages 1
and 2). We may need to get more information from you or elsewhere to do this.
Usually it will take seven weeks for us decide whether or not we can deal with your application
and if we can’t we will explain why.
If your application is something we can deal with, we will appoint an adjudicator who will be your
main point of contact.
An adjudicator may contact you, the FAS Scheme Manager or anyone else we think can help to
ask for more information. Any information you provide will be shown to the FAS Scheme
Manager and any information they provide will be shown to you.
If you are appealing a scheme notification or scheme eligibility decision and there are other
applications similar to yours we may decide to look at them together. If we do we will let you
know. You, the FAS Scheme Manager and any other parties involved in the case will be given
the opportunity to object.
Interested persons
If your appeal relates to a scheme notification or scheme eligibility decision we have to notify
any ‘interested persons’ that an appeal has been made. Broadly this is anyone who is, or might
be, affected by the outcome of your case. Usually we will do this by publishing details of your
case on our website. All the information related to your case will be made available to any
interested persons.
Interested persons can also apply to become a party in a case. If we accept their application
they will have the same rights and responsibilities as you - this includes making representations
to us and requesting an oral hearing.
Oral hearings
Any party to a case can ask us to hold an oral hearing – though it will be our decision, and we
may hold one even if we aren’t asked. For example we might decide, or agree, to hold a hearing
if there is a significant conflict of evidence that can’t be decided based on the papers, or if we
think that a party may have been dishonest. If you think we should hold an oral hearing for your
case you should write to us explaining why.
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Making a decision about your case
Some appeals can be resolved in a few months, others may take longer depending on the
number of people who need to be contacted or the complexity of the case. Our website has
more information about what to expect if we can investigate your case.
Once we have enough information we usually send all parties an adjudicator’s view of the case.
All parties will have a chance to comment and should any party disagree, they can ask an
Ombudsman to review the case papers and make a final and binding decision. This is called a
determination.
In some cases an Ombudsman will issue a preliminary decision and invite all parties to
comment on it. The Ombudsman will then review any comments and ask for more information if
needed before making a final determination.
After a decision has been made
If an Ombudsman makes a determination in your favour it will usually include instructions to the
FAS Scheme Manager to put things right.
An Ombudsman’s determination can be enforced in the courts (unless there is a successful
appeal on a point of law) and is binding on you, the FAS Scheme Manager and (if applicable)
the trustees or managers and any interested persons.
Unless there are special circumstances we publish all determinations on our website.
For more information on our privacy and personal information policy visit
www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk
Other organisations that can help
The Pensions Advisory Service
For help and advice while you are asking the FAS to review a decision.
11 Belgrave Road
London SW1V 1RB
Telephone 0300 123 1047
www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk
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Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
For general complaints about the FAS.
Millbank Tower
London
SW1P 4QP
Telephone 0345 015 4033
www.ombudsman.org.uk
Feedback and complaints about us
If you have some feedback on how we could improve our service or think something may have
gone wrong please contact us.
You should start by contacting the person who is dealing with your case. If you’re not able to
resolve the matter, contact their line manager and ask them to look into it.
We hope you won’t need to, but if you’re not happy with a line manager’s response (other than
a complaint that the outcome of your case should have been different), then you can write to:
The Casework Director
The Pensions Ombudsman
11 Belgrave Road
London SW1V 1RB
This factsheet is a basic guide to our role and how we work. It does not provide a
comprehensive description of the legislation that governs our work.
September 2016
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